We have this thing we do in my youth group once every month or so, where we have a job speaker. We ask members of the church to come to our Sunday night meetings and talk about their job and how their faith affects it. It’s gone over really well with both the students and the guest speakers that have already participated so far.

One night a few months ago, we were planning out the schedule for the fall semester and picking dates for the job speakers. I got to thinking, hey, I’m a college student, that’s kind of like a job. So I volunteered for one of the nights.

I thought that sharing my experiences about college and how my faith affected that would be really relevant to them since many of them would be graduating in a year or two. I know that so many students drift away from their faith after high school. Much of the available research points to roughly three-fourths of students that stop attending church after graduation.

That is a really hard statistic for me to swallow and one of the reasons I’m so passionate about youth ministry. The transition from high school to college is a very crucial time for young adults and it is difficult, I know. That’s why I feel it’s so important to share with them how my faith has helped, and is continuing to help me through this season of change.

This was also my first time really speaking in front of a group like this so I was pretty nervous, but it went over well. I started off with my testimony and just shared a little bit about who I was. I told them about when I was looking for a church, and getting plugged into a college group. They listened the entire time and asked several good questions along the way too.

I really stressed the importance of small groups to them. My small group has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I have formed such deep relationships with my group members and they, along with our leader, have helped me grow so much spiritually. I honestly don’t know where I would be right now without them.

I don’t know how my sharing impacted these students, I just pray that they can take something from it to help them when they go through the same transition. I pray that God would use my experiences to help them and every other student that I mentor in the future.